A Bay Ridge man who was arrested at Kennedy Airport last Tuesday for allegedly sending money to terrorists in Pakistan complained that he had to leave the neighborhood because he couldn’t raise enough terror cash from Muslim-Americans there.

Agron Hasbajrami, 27, was charged with sending more than $1,000 to an extremist in Pakistan — but the arrest also included a measure of vindication for the long-smeared Bay Ridge Islamic community.

E-mails between Hasbajrami and his Pakistani contact reveal that he needed to leave this country for the notorious last home of Osama Bin Laden because he was having a difficult time collecting money from Bay Ridge Muslims once he told them that the funds were for jihad.

The indictment does not elaborate on how Hasbajrami sought out funds from local Muslims, but local leaders pointed with pride at his lack of success at generating cash for Islamic extremism.

“This is the first time that [anyone] ever admitted anything good about us,” said Zein Rimawi, a board member of Arab Muslim American Federation. “It’s very difficult to raise money here for something like that.”

Another local Arab leader, Linda Sarsour, said that it’s time for her outsiders to stop smearing her community as anti-American.

“Muslims are involved in every part of the community — from the community board to the Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District,” said Sarsour, who heads the Arab-American Association of New York. “We do not have terror cells in the community.”

“The police will follow someone around for a year and a half,” said Rimawi, who added that he did not think Hasbajrami was guilty.

“This is a civil rights issue. I don’t trust the police department and FBI. They should be ashamed of themselves.”

Hasbajrami pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in Brooklyn Federal Court last Friday. His lawyer, Nancy Ennis, did not respond to a request for comment.

It could not be determined where he worked or what he did in his three years living in Brooklyn since he emigrated from Albania in 2008.

At some point, he told his contact that he wanted to travel to Pakistan to “marry with the girls in paradise” — jihadist code for dying as a martyr — and promised to bring money to help the cause. Later, though, he claimed it was difficult to raise cash in Brooklyn because fellow Muslims became apprehensive when they “hear it is for jihad.”

Hasbajrami had been attempting to leave the country for more than a month, officials say. He bought a ticket last month to Turkey, but canceled it. He then purchased another ticket to Turkey last Monday and was arrested at the airport the next day while carrying a tent, boots and cold-weather gear.

Authorities also said that they found a note in his apartment that read, “Do not wait for invasion, the time is martyrdom time.”

This isn’t the first time a Brooklyn man was accused of being a terrorist. A federal jury in July convicted Betim Kaziu, 23, of a similar charge, after he traveled to Cairo and tried to join terrorist groups in hopes by fighting US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq to die a martyr.

And feds foiled a plot in the late 1990s to blow up Atlantic Terminal, arresting two Palestinians in their Park Slope terror pad before they could pull off their dastardly plan.

Reasonable discourse

CommonSense from Park Slope says:

It's ironic to me that the Muslims of Bay Ridge are gloating about this when Hasbajrami, who lived among them for three years, openly engaged in fundraising for jihad. Why did 'the community' allow him to continue operating for so long? Why didn't they alert the police or the FBI to his activities? It's not enough for individuals to refuse to provide economic support for terrorism. The community needs to help the authorities identify and capture people like Hasbajrami before they generate enough money or gather enough momentum to carry out terrorist plots. Seeing something like this in your own neighborhood and saying nothing about it is collusion.

Sept. 14, 2011, 7:13 am

Jay from Bay Ridge says:

If you see something, say something.

Sept. 14, 2011, 8:31 am

Joe Blow from Bay Ridge says:

I think Rimawi has this all wrong. It seems to me that the NYPD surveillance of his community is both needed and effective. I hope that it is redoubled. Why didn't the Muslim community in Bay Ridge call the NYPD or the FBI when this person tried to solicit money for violent jihad? We should be happy that the Muslim community didn't give him money? I'm disturbed that they didn't immediately report him. There is very little to be hopeful about in this.

Sept. 14, 2011, 9:38 am

tombstone from bay ridge/ ft hamiltonThis i says:

This a civil rights issue?? Don't trust the police or the FBI? They don't know what he did for a living in the time spent living in Brooklyn. How did he pay rent? Buy food? What about clothing & transportation? Maybe if we were more diligent watching certain people 911 might have just been a date on the calendar. Who should be watched Eskimos??

Sept. 15, 2011, 2:12 pm

Dubbya says:

I don't care if it's racial profiling or not. These guys need to be watched. The community should be held responsible too for not reporting this. I don't believe any of them.

Sept. 15, 2011, 5:20 pm

Dave from Park Slope says:

Hey, racists, Hasbajrami wasn't arrested for traveling with a tent. The authorities were obviously tipped off, and it's likely the tip came from someone in the Muslim community. Why don't you crawl back into your tea parties?

Sept. 21, 2011, 10:07 pm

Dubbya says:

Go hug a Muslim davey

Sept. 22, 2011, 9:11 pm

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